Last year, 17 percent of the energy consumed in the Netherlands was sourced from renewables, marking a 2 percent increase from 2022, according to
Statistics Netherlands (CBS). While biomass remains the largest contributor to renewable energy, its usage is on the decline. Despite this progress, the Netherlands still lags behind the European Union average in renewable energy adoption.
The 2013 National Energy Agreement set a target for the Netherlands to source 16 percent of its energy from renewables by 2023, a goal that has been met. The new EU target for 2030 mandates that 42.5 percent of European energy consumption must come from renewable sources. The specific implications of this target for the Netherlands are not yet clear.
In 2023, the Netherlands consumed 308 petajoules (PJ) of renewable energy. Biomass contributed the largest portion at 106 PJ, although this was a 3 percent decrease from the previous year, primarily due to a 31 percent reduction in biomass usage by power stations.
Wind energy consumption saw a significant increase of 25 percent, reaching 96 PJ, largely driven by the addition of more wind turbines. Offshore wind farm capacity grew by 55 percent to nearly 4 gigawatts (GW), while onshore capacity rose by 10 percent to almost 7 GW.
Solar energy consumption also experienced robust growth, increasing by 17 percent to 73 PJ in 2023, thanks to a rise in solar panel installations. The total installed capacity of solar panels jumped by 24 percent over the previous year, surpassing 24 GW. Additionally, 2023 was an unusually sunny year, which further boosted solar energy production.
Despite these advancements, the Netherlands' renewable energy share remains below the EU average. In 2022, the EU average for renewable energy consumption was 23 percent, while the Netherlands stood at 15 percent. Only Luxembourg, Belgium, Malta, and Ireland had lower shares of renewable energy. Sweden leads the EU with 66 percent renewable energy, followed by Finland at 48 percent and Latvia at 43 percent. Photo by QueenBarenziah, Wikimedia commons.